DOE’s Carr: School Closures ‘May Have’ Contributed to Decline in Test Scores, But It’s Not ‘Only’ Reason

On Monday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics in the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education Peggy Carr stated that school closures “may have had some contribution” to the drop in test scores shown on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, but it’s not the “only reason why we’re seeing these results that we’re seeing today.”

Correspondent William Brangham asked, “You mentioned that this is largely, seemingly, an impact of the pandemic. Is that true, is that — is this principally because kids were out of school or doing remote school, or are there other factors involved?”

Carr responded, “The disruptions that we’re seeing here today are — you can draw a straight line from those disruptions to student performance. We are very careful, though, to outline that there [are] a number of other factors that are at play here, social-emotional issues. Students are emerging from this pandemic with mental health issues, more bullying. They’re having trouble behaving in classes. I could go on. So, there are a number of factors. We have to look at the whole child, not just the academics. So, it is complicated. People want to say this is because students were out of school. Well, that may have had some contribution, but it’s not the reason why we’re — only reason why we’re seeing these results that we’re seeing today.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett